


MerMay 2018

by Alice_on_Elm_Street



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dark, Horror, M/M, MerMay, Siren Lance, kind of, mermaid keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-01 02:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14510088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_on_Elm_Street/pseuds/Alice_on_Elm_Street
Summary: The song was so beautiful...





	1. Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I'm getting this started a little late. I’m going to try these with a bit of a darker twist. Not every tag is relevant to every chapter. Relevant tags will always be posted in the beginning notes of every chapter.
> 
> Day 10 is a free day so vote in the comments of chapter 9 for which of prompts 1-9 you’d like to see a continuation of for the free day! Day 31 is also a free day so keep that in mind. It will be for prompts 11-30!
> 
>  
> 
> Tags: Implied Character Death, Mind Control, Klance (kind of), Siren Lance

Every fiber of his being told him to run. He couldn’t. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beautiful creature in the water. It sang so sweetly. Its iridescent blue scales shimmered beneath the surface of the water with the gentle sway of its tail.

 

The creature lifted one slender arm towards him and beckoned. His steps echoed in the cavern as he walked closer to the pool. Delicate hands brushed along his jaw and threaded through his hair. He leaned into those hands. His head felt so heavy. Those hands closed around his wrist when he reached towards the creature. It rolled its body back, guiding him deeper. The water was cold as it slid up his ankles, his knees, hips waist.

 

 All the while, the creature kept singing. Soft, low, intoxicating. The song slid over him, surrounding him. It filled his lungs, stealing his breath, swallowing him. Twin blue orbs pierced the darkness. He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe…


	2. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You never know what lies beneath the waves...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I might have totally failed at MerMay. Serves me right for trying to start this the same month that I started graduate school. Oh well. I'm still going to post the chapters when I'm able to get them done. This one ended up being much longer than I had intended. They're supposed to be short and quick! Sigh. I just can't help myself. 
> 
> I take requests. In general, not specifically for MerMay. I reserve the right to refuse though if I'm not into it though.
> 
> Tags: Sheith, Mer!Keith, Very Minor Body Horror,

It was a routine trip, a small team collecting samples from the coral reef and its inhabitants. Shiro had been diving many times before, but never once had the locals seemed so unsettled. They watched from the shore as Katie’s boat, Rover, jetted out over the water and Shiro stared back until he could no longer see them. Matt elbowed him in the ribs and he whipped around to catch his eye.

 

“You haven’t been listening to me at all, have you?”

 

Shiro blushed and shrugged with a lopsided smile. “Sorry. Got lost in thought, I guess.”

 

Matt reclined back against the boat’s edge. “What? About that story the locals kept spouting?”

 

“Story?”

 

Matt balked, as did several nearby crew members. “Dude! How did they not catch you? Like, 4 different people told us the same story.”

 

“Are you going to actually tell me this story or just leave me hanging?”

 

“Well, some guy went diving alone in the reef last year and never came back.”

 

Shiro raised a brow. “So, he drowned? Or got attacked by something. Why is that such a big deal? It’s sad, yes, but not abnormal.”

 

“Not yet, it’s not. They spent days combing the area trying to find him but they never did. Eventually everyone just assumed he had drowned. They even held a funeral with no body. And then somebody saw him.”

 

“I thought you just said they didn’t find the body?”

 

“I did.” Matt grinned.

 

Shiro looked at him with confusion. “Matt, you’re not making any sense.”

 

“Hear me out. A fisherman claims he actually _saw_ him while he was out collecting his nets. Not a body. Like, it was really him. The fisherman said that he was leaning over into the guy’s boat, trying to reach for something, but when he realized that he’d been seen, he dropped back under the water and vanished. And get this, the fisherman said that he had red webbed ears and matching scales up his arms. Like a fish.”

 

Shiro rolled his eyes. “So, what? You’re telling me that this guy drowned and turned into a fish?”

 

Matt shrugged, holding his hands up in defense. “I couldn’t tell ya. It totally spooked the locals though. That’s why my dad had such a hard time getting the permit for us to come out here. Apparently, 3 other people have gone out to the reef since the guy went missing and they all were found dead, floating in the water. They were pretty chewed up by the local wildlife by the time they found them, but they were all definitely killed by having their throats torn out. What fish does that? Also, they said the victims had these really nasty looking scales on their bodies. Like, small patches in one place or another. Brittle and gunky with this purple stuff.” Matt leaned in close. “I’m wondering if we can find what killed them.”

 

“Don’t be careless, Matt.” Dr. Holt stepped over a coil of rope as he approached them. “If it killed 3 people already, then it’s dangerous.’ He gave his son a look and Matt responded with a sheepish grin and fluttering eyelashes. “If you find something suspicious, report it to me. Don’t go messing with things you don’t understand.” The boat had begun to slow down and the rest of the crew was assembling their gear. “Katie says we’ll be there any moment now. You 2 get ready to dive.”

 

It took only minutes for them to get their gear on, the whole routine practically second nature. The boat came to a stop and Dr. Holt rattled off a few reminders before giving to go-ahead. As their fellow divers hit the water, Matt called up to the driver’s cabin. “Don’t leave without us, Kate!”

 

“Don’t tempt me!” Matt cackled as they sat on the edge of the boat. “And launch properly! Don’t you scratch my baby again!”

 

Matt’s cackle died to a nervous laugh. “Believe me, I’m not stupid enough to do that a second time.”

 

“That’s up for debate.”

 

Shiro and Matt shared a salute before dropping backwards. Shiro shut his eyes and let the cool water rush up around him. He loved diving. It was like entering a new world, so close yet so far from their own. Matt shoved his arm and Shiro twisted up to swim after him towards the rest of the crew.

 

The team separated off around the reef, taking samples of the plant life and noting any fauna they came across. Shiro moved along the edge of the coral, marveling at the colors under the sunlight. A flicker of something flashed in his peripheral vision and he glanced to it, watching something disappear around some rocks further off. He smiled and kicked after it. Chasing fish might have been a little childish, but it wasn’t beneath him by any means. Besides, they were supposed to be documenting everything they saw. Rounding the rocks, he frowned when nothing greeted him. He supposed it wasn’t something he should be surprised about, since fish were far faster in the water than he would ever be. He turned to head back.

 

_Ouch!_

 

Shiro yanked his hand up to his chest. Wisps of blood ghosted out from where he back of his hand had caught on the rocks and he hissed. He placed his camera on the rocks and yanked off his glove, tucking it under his arm as he examined the cut. Not too deep, nothing to be concerned over. The saltwater stung, but he could deal with it. The real pain was now he’d have to get new gloves. He sighed, fogging up his mask for a moment as he reached for his camera and froze when a pale hand did the same. Shiro’s eyes shot up, locking with bright violet orbs over the top of the rocks, just as wide and shocked as his own.

 

Shiro blinked once. Then twice. Then three times.

 

Red webbed ears.

 

Matching scales up the arms.

 

And then it moved, snatching the camera and darting back away from him. Shiro hovered there, stunned for a moment, mouth gaping. The ears…the scales…was that the guy Matt had been talking about? But that was impossible…

 

Shiro shook his head and scrambled to swim after it. When he caught up to it, he gazed in awe. The young man hovered by the entrance to a cave, playing with Shiro’s camera, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. He did indeed fit the description the fisherman had given to the public, but the man had certainly failed to mention the glorious fist tail that encompassed the young man’s lower body. It shimmered in the distorted sunlight, like molten gold and lava, thin fins swaying at the hips and end of the tail. Scales decorated not only the arms, but the sides of the torso and even the face as well, fading across the cheekbones and up towards the ears.

 

Shiro moved slowly. He didn’t want to startle him. The creature turned the camera over in his hands, poking and prodding at every piece. _It’s like he’s never seen a camera before_ , Shiro thought. But how could that be? Surely if he really was the missing man then he would know what it was. _Unless he…doesn’t remember?_

 

That was the only thing that could make sense. This man didn’t remember being human. That would explain why he never tried to get help or sought anyone out from the town. _How did this happen?_ But maybe he wasn’t the missing young man at all. After all, the only descriptors Shiro had to go on were the ears and scales. That could be anyone.

 

Right?

 

He froze when violet eyes locked on him and the creature ducked into the cave at an alarming speed. Shiro kicked forward, determined not to lose him. His thoughts drifted to his team for a moment and Dr. Holt’s words to not be careless. Going off on his own, following this creature, that the epitome of careless. He needed to go get the team…no. If he turned back to get the crew, even just Matt or Dr. Holt, this creature could vanish into the depths and be lost forever.

 

No…that was…unacceptable. He couldn’t lose him. He had to follow him.

 

Every stroke took Shiro deeper and deeper into the cave, twisting through tunnels and squeezing between rocks, eventually switching on his mask’s headlamp when it became to dark to see. The creature was fast. Several times he thought he had lost him, a thought that sent an unfamiliar panic seizing through his body, only to catch a glimpse of a fin around a corner or disappearing down a tunnel. Shiro’s lungs burned and he checked his tank. He was already down to half a tank. If he wasn’t careful, he’d run out of oxygen.

 

Shiro turned a corner and caught sight of the creature floating at the end of a tunnel. He smiled then swept downward and seemed to vanish into the cave floor. Shiro balked and swam forward. When he reached the spot where the young man had disappeared, he found an opening with a strange glow coming from within. He slipped through and gasped.

 

The cavern was filled with a valley of beautiful dark pink flowers that stretched to every corner. There were hundreds of them, each putting off a faint white glow that illuminated the room in soft light. Shiro bent to cup one towards him. He didn’t recognize the plant at all. He reached to turn off his headlamp when the shine caught on something nestled amongst the flowers. He picked it up. An air tank, with “Keith K.” labeled on the side.

_Keith…is that his name?_ Shiro looked cast his eyes over the valley. The creature – _Keith_ – had abandoned Shiro’s camera in favor of laying in the blooms, clutching a bundle of them close. He writhed and buried his face in them. He looked happy, playful. It would have sweet if Shiro wasn’t plagued by the whole situation. If this really was the young man who disappeared, Keith, then how had this happened? And what about the bodies that had been found? He couldn’t have something to do with them…could he?

 

Keith was sitting up now, watching him. He smiled and swam towards him. Inky black hair swayed in the current as he came closer. He stopped within arm’s reach of Shiro and he itched to reach out to the young man. One of the flowers tumbled from his arms and Shiro caught it. Keith watched him with interest as he brought it up. The petals were soft under his bare fingers. _Ah, my glove. I probably dropped it when I chased him._

 

Shiro met stormy-purple eyes. He couldn’t say what possessed him, but in that moment he tucked the blossom behind Keith’s ear. The other flinched back at the movement and Shiro withdrew his hand, raising both to show he meant no harm. Delicate fingers came up to stroke the petals and Keith smiled. Shiro blushed.

 

Keith released the gather of blooms in his arms, save for one, and held it out to Shiro. He took it and Keith intertwined their fingers, trapping the flower between their palms. He blushed and smiled up at the diver and Shiro felt his face heat up. He jumped when something cool and slick coated his palm and he looked down to where Keith had crushed the flower between their palms, spilling a brilliant purple slime over their hands. Keith freed his hand and smeared his own share of the slime on the back of Shiro’s hand, drifting back from him, eyes shining with interest. Shiro blinked. Was it some kind of prank?

 

It started as a tingle in his palm. Then it escalated to an itch. Then a burn. His hand twitched and he scratched at it, hissing as the pain that sparked under his nails. And then he stopped. Where skin had once been was now a patch of scales. His mind immediately dragged up Matt’s words from the boat, about how the corpses were found with patches of scales on their bodies. But Matt had said that the scales found on the bodies were ugly. These were beautiful, pitch black with an iridescent purple shine. Keith grabbed his hand and his fingers ghosted over the scales. He made a happy chirp and clapped his hands together as he backflipped through the water. It made Shiro smile, though he had no idea what the young man was so gleeful about.

 

Then his breath hitched in his throat. Pain sparked in his chest and he clutched at it. He seized. He tried to inhale but the muscles refused to allow it, spasming within his chest and throat. The scales burned. He floundered, reaching out towards Keith, but the young man moved just beyond his fingers. Shiro tried to speak but no words left him. Drool slid from his lips and slicked the inside of his mask. His fingers twitched but he could no longer move. His body fell limp, out of his control, as he convulsed and gasped in the water. He shouldn’t have gone alone. He shouldn’t have followed the beautiful young man in to cave. He shouldn’t…what shouldn’t he have done? He couldn’t remember…

 

Shiro was turned onto his back by gentle hands and he stared at the cavern ceiling. As blackness began to edge his vision, the flowers glowed bright, illuminating an intricate carving on the ceiling. A flower. Such a beautiful flower…

 

His mask was pulled from his face and those hands cradled him close, laying him down in the blooms and running through his hair. Violet eyes gazed down at him as darkness overtook him, soft and filled with something Shiro couldn’t pinpoint.

 

_Soon…_


End file.
